After months of receiving feedback from citizens, the Town Council last week decided to seek proposals for the cost of renovating town hall.
In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the council agreed to get this information before asking residents, either by mail or at an election, for their opinion on whether to build new or renovate.
In addition to this decision at its third monthly town hall workshop, the council agreed to postpone further workshops until proposals for renovating the town hall have been received.
Councilor John James noted that the council seems to be getting ahead of where it should be in the process.
“Until we know, honestly, the will of the town, I’m not sure we want to spend days and months putting time in if it’s not the direction it wants to go,” he said, adding he was uncomfortable moving forward without broader input from townspeople.
He suggested the town “mail every resident a survey with an up or down vote – two choices, renovate or build new.” Councilor Jessica Cyr said she “doesn’t want to waste months on more study while the elevator is on the brink of failure.”
Councilor Jeff Minihan said the Port City study received this summer, indicating only the costs of building new and summarizing problems with the existing town hall, was just a starting point.
“Putting the project out to bid at this point would be futile without a deeper dive into the costs of renovating because someone might be for renovation, but not at any price,” he said.
Councilors agreed they didn’t known enough about what it would take to renovate the current building to make a decision.
“I’d rather spend another $100,000 now than start a renovation and make a mistake,” James said. “We need a decent engineering evaluation.”
Council Chair Mallory Cook said a financial component must be included in any evaluation so the public can compare the true costs. “Whatever the output of another study, I want it to be usable in the event that we were to renovate,” she said.
The council asked for input from two experts in attendance at the workshop – architect Ken Weston of Spring Street, an architect for the University of New Hampshire, and Mike Lassel of Highland Avenue, a retired architect.
Weston and Lassel both suggested writing the request for proposal, known as an RFP, in a format so that the firm doing the design also expects to manage construction of the proposed project. This ensures the proposal estimate includes the extra costs of renovating, such as alternate spaces for town staff to work during construction, they said.
Weston and Lassel also suggested a target budget for the proposal, perhaps the $6 million Port City estimated it would cost to build new. The designs would then be geared toward a total cost that would give the council and residents a clearer idea of the financial choices. The two architects agreed to work with Town Manager Tim Pellerin on the RFP to be sure the town gets what it needs from the study.
The council agreed the proposal should be in hand by the beginning of 2024 and that it is important to keep the process moving, whatever is decided.
Resident David McDermott of Bennett Lot Road sent a letter about town hall to the council and brought it with him to the meeting. It stated the council had rushed the process without listening to public input, which he said has leaned heavily toward renovating the town hall.
“It would be very unfortunate if, after spending all that time, money and energy, a warrant article to fund either option was voted down,” wrote McDermott.
